April Drinking Companion

St. Luigi Scrosoppi is this months companion and he has become of my favorite and unique stories of how God will connect the dots in a most unusual way. I really hope you enjoy this one, as it has some really fun connections despite some weird Catholic connections, which will end with an award from a major news network and the paths of 2 saints interceding for 1 great cause.

To begin I’m not much of a soccer fan (football for the rest of the world), at least I wasn’t. When the world cup would come on, I would find a team to root for and enjoy the tournament. This past world cup became exciting for me as I was able to cheer on Croatia, my grandfather’s heritage. It was an amazing time that ended with watching the final game with several hundred Croatians at a Croatian Catholic Church in NYC. From here, soccer/football would play a bigger role in my life, unexpectedly.

Shortly after this amazing experience I began giving a neighbor of mine Uber rides to the airport. Since I was usually available for these long rides early in the morning, and only a couple blocks from him, I became his regular driver. As we got to know each other on these long rides, we had good conversations on a variety of topics, one in particular was our Catholic faith we shared going to the same local parish. One day I was giving him a ride to a different airport, which tipped me off that he might be flying international. At that point he acknowledged and said the team he was with would be traveling to Spain for a game. Shortly after dropping him off I would Google his first name and the city he traveled to regularly. Little did I know my friend worked for the Chicago Fire Football Club.

It was a surreal moment, that this humble man, who I had many wonders of what work he did, but never asked out of genuine enjoyment of conversations I have with people. I enjoy getting to know them, while allowing others to reveal what their heart desires. Shortly after that I bought a custom jersey of theirs with what I like to call the patron of Chicago’s name on it. He is Augutus Tolton, first black man to be ordained a Catholic priest in the U.S.A. He was from Chicago and did amazing things during his time there serving the African American population of his time. Overnight I became a fan, but as always I was following my faith first as there is always something God is doing through these moments.

My football jersey. The 79 is representative of the July 9 feast day of Augutus 7/9

I sent a picture to my friend, apologizing I discovered who he was, but in the same token was excited to be on their bandwagon. At this point in February with the season about to begin, I simply shared something cool will probably happen on his would be feast day of July 9. I didn’t know what it was, but the saints never fail to show up on their special days. Three days after I purchased this jersey for example, Augustus was elevated in the Catholic Church from “Servant of God” to “Venerable Augutus”, thus the V A on the jersey. I purchased the name in anticipation he would be venerable soon, little did I know they would announce it 3 days after my purchase.

This story isn’t about Augustus though, as much as it is St. Luigi who’s feast day is April 3. This obscure saint to me was named patron of soccer players/footballers. I discovered this when I was looking up patrons of soccer in April due to the season sputtering, and shortly after the team was nominated for an award by ESPN. Ironically the day the winner would be named was July 9 (Augustus Tolton’s special day). As I begin researching this saint, I never see any relevance of him and soccer. All I find however is that he taught the youth good virtues and then some bishop in Austria in 2010 decides “hey! let’s make this Italian saint, patron of soccer since it seems like a good virtue to teach kids.”

Initially i’m like, why? Do I really have to share this saint with my friend, it’s really going to seem superstitious, and I dislike that since it gives the faith a bad name. In all things however I trust, and I bought 2 very weird looking statues with his resemblance since it was the only one I could find online. Shortly after it arrives they receive the nomination for the “Humantarian Team of the Year Award”, and the day the winner is revealed…..July 9 the same day as Augustus Tolton’s special day (the patron of Chicago). What were they nominated for……teaching kids to play soccer since it was seen as a good virtue to teach them……you can’t make this stuff up. I was left in awe how the dots connected, and I was only more confident they would win the award. Indeed they did.

After that the season sputtered and ended in disappointment, but it was a great experience for me and story to tell. I was able to attend 4 games of theirs along the east coast and truly gained an appreciation of the sport as I saw it from a different angle every time. I was scheduled to go to Chicago for the home opener March 21 and return to Soldier Field, but sadly all sports are currently on hold due to our current struggles with this pandemic. So i’m left to ask, St. Luigi pray for us, that we may return to good health, and resume what I expect to be an amazing season, as God never fails to keep his promises that good times are ahead in Chi-town.

On a side note, this man was one of my best influences with starting my business. God put people like him in my place to encourage me. As a successful businessman like himself, I would make coffee every time we had a ride, from there I began to get good feedback. I expanded into tea because of his influence, and later on I began providing coffee and iced tea, that I would brew and store in travel pots for other Uber rides. This became critical for me personally as I was learning a standard of what brings joy to others. It was a blessing to have someone at the top of a business organization, that influenced a lot of positive things throughout his career, that I gently learned about over time and research, to be giving me feedback regularly. One of my favorite lines from him a year ago that I will paraphrase was, “this is good, it’s all good, now you need to sell it.” It’s exciting that I am literally at this point now, that is exactly what I am set to do. Like any success though, you have to put the fear of failure to the side, and instead just embrace the success and take any mistakes as learning moments to improve. This was my prior business life of trying things and finding what works, and improving on what didn’t.

A holy card I made. I was inspired by this boy I met at the coffee shop who liked my saints jersey. When he told me he played soccer, I felt it was only appropriate I finally make a card for this peculiar patron of soccer/football.